Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-06-19
THE CID SOyTa "NiDE THIS PEOPLE,"

Inc lollONlnH Is thc huuItSN ol M
Thomas Nelson Page delivered at the
annual meeting of the alumni of Wash
iugton and Lee University, at Licking
ton, last Tuesday
MIR. President, Fcllow-Ammni Of
Washington and Lee University, La
dies. and Gentlemen, After some de
liberation have decided that the first
words should utter from this platform
should bc my acknowledgment for the
courtesy and consideration that | have
received at the hands of your commit
tee. am a year behind my time, but
if il be any satisfaction to yOu for my
delay would tender to You my thanks
for Your kindness and my assurance that
| have during that period borne Wash
ington and Lee University IN grateful
acknowledgment in my heart of hearts.
As | stand here tonight my mind
travels back over the years to the time
when | was student-perhaps | should
rather say an undergraduate of this in
stituiion-and sat with eager eyes look
ing into the future. ! placed before
myself at that time as one of the bright
est rewards that earth could offer the
opportunity 10 stand where | am to-
night and address the alumni of this
university. Yet, when | have through
your partiahty attained this prize, |
find myself awed by the responsibility
| have assumed. and | feel impelled to
crave at the outset your kindliest in
diligence.
In the selection of theme | have,
curious to relate, been somewhat en-
barrassod. Not that good subjects We're
not manifold and material plentiful,
but 10 me. on this occasion, when | AN
10 address this audience. in tins pres
ence, there could be but one subject
and that-th, best. If / shall appear
to you somewhat grave in the treatment
of my subject pray You consider tdat
il is "a serious matter. Ii SANDER Os one
individual be deemed dishonorAble.
how much more opprObriouS Is the ira
ducing Of q whole people
| deem myself fortunate that the
subject which have chosen | am per
mitted to address you upon on this
spot, at an anniversary of this inStitu-
ton for this university. whose found
er was George Washington and whose
estshhShcr was Robert T.. Lee. i'm
presses me as essentially the southern
university and as the spot on earth TO
which my sermon Is most appropriate.
Broad enough 10 realize the magniii-
cent ideal of its first founder as a uni
versitv where the youth Of this whole
country may meet and there acquire
the grand idea of this American Union,
it is vet distinctly free from the mate
rialIstic elements which of late are as
sailing kindred institutions and III
sidiously threatening even the existence
OF the Union itself SO that it can be
Justly regarded as the citadel of that
conservatism which. mated with i'm
mortal devotion to duty. may be term
td the cardinal doctrine of the southern
civilization
Two and twenty wears AGO there fell
upon the South blow for which there
D. 10 metaphor among the casualties
which may hcfan man. It was not
simply paralysis it was death. It was
annililation under the pretty cupho-
ni,m of reconstruction She WAS de-
stroycd. bound hand and foot. wTlpt in
the CcI, ments Of the grave; laid aw y
ia the scpulchre Of the departed the
mouth Of the sepulchre Wi, stopped.
was scaled with the seal OF govern
n.ut. and a watch Was set. She was
dead. buried and yet She roS- again.
J be voice Of God called her forth she
came, clad i'll her graye-clothcs, but
living, and with her face upliited to
the heavens from which had sOuulel
the call Of her resurrection.
With more than the recuperatlve
power Of the tabled Phoenix she rose
from her ashes, renewed her youth
like the eagles, fixed her gaze upon the
sun, and, once more spreading her
strong pinions, lifted herself for am
other fight.
The outside world. bred in foreign
schools. tutored on hostile literature,
gazed lstOnlshcd at her course, ami in
wondermcnt and ignorance, not know
ing or else il fraud MOI admitting that
any good thing could cone out Of
NaZaIciI, sad tdis Is not the Old South,
but a ntw civilization ana. marvel
lous t. r. late, the men Of the SOHth
accepted this as all honor. Since then
in The discus sion Viii IN has Gus el, AM
which Las been for tle most pI:t
friendly and acceptable. can't phrase
has caught the public ear AM has be-
come popularized, 80 that no disgust
ton on the South is regarded as CON-
pletely furnished without an abundant
supply OF tins current coinage. the new
South. The public press glitterS with
il magazines teen with 1t, and the
addresses and essays of the time bear
ample testimony 10 Its popularity. The
phrase, To- my ind. implies congrltu-
lation or sclf-adulation upon the new
order. As it comes from without or
el anatcs from within the shadowy line
which marks the boundary within
which southern civilization had its be-
ing, by imperative inference 1t instl-
tutcs inyidious comparison with and
implies ctnsure Of something else, OF
some Other order, Of a different civil
ZatlOn.
THE OLD SOUTH.
That order, that civilization, | pro-
TO G 20 discuss briefly this evening, to
30 far rs may be in the narrow limits
Of an address repel this censure show
that comparison is absurd, and that the
new South is really simply the old with
its energies directed in new lines, and
10 Jay before you, for your own judg-
ment upon it, the old South.
The civilization which is known bv
this name was as unique as it was dis
tnct. 1T combined elements Of the
three great civilizations which since the
dawn of history have enlightened the
world. itpartook ofthe philosophic tone
ofthe Grecian Of the dominant spirit of
the Roman, and Of the guardfulness Of
individual rights of the Saxon civiliza-
ton and over all brooded softness
and beauty, the joint product of
cbiyslry and Christianity, as the sunlit
atmosphere enfolds the rugged noun
tain tops, the forest, and the grassy
wales, blending all into one harmonious
whole.
1t began almost with the first perma-
~